Scum of the Earth (1963) User Reviews

Could've been a lot scummier

[Eegah Guy · 5/10 · 29 March 2001]

One of the earliest of "roughie" films of the 60s, this cheap Florida film about how nudie photographers lure innocent cuties to shed their clothes and morals is pretty dull with only brief flashes of H.G. Lewis' brand of low-grade brilliance. Acting that ranges from overwrought to amateurish plus static direction keeps this from being a good film but a vicious belt-whipping scene keeps it from being too timid with its seedy subject matter. Look for much of the cast of Lewis' classic film BLOOD FEAST in this.

Scum Of The Earth

[cultfilmfan · 6/10 · 7 May 2005]

Scum Of The Earth, is about a young girl named Kim, who is asked to do portraits for a photographer named Harmon. Kim, finds out how much she will be making and it will be enough to send her to college so she agrees to model for Harmon. Soon Harmon tells her that he wants her to pose topless for the photos and that she will be paid more than double what she was making before. Kim, is scared but agrees to do it. Kim, then releases she doesn't like what she has gotten into and the boss of these photo shoots named Lang, won't let her leave and soon Kim, finds out she is in for a lot of trouble. Scum Of The Earth, is written and directed by cult filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis, who is best known for his gory horror films such as Blood Feast (and this film stars a lot of the cast of Blood Feast) but this film is not a horror. It instead is a drama about an illegal pornography ring. I'am a big fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis's low budget B horror films and I like his non horror movies as well. They aren't the best looking or acted films but they are always guaranteed to entertain and Scum Of The Earth does that. The film is compelling and I wanted to see how the story would turn out and the film got more intriguing as it went along. I would've preferred if the film were perhaps a little longer but I did like what I saw and was entertained. Another entertaining B film from the master of gore Herschell Gordon Lewis.

The First Roughie?

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 7 November 2016]

A naive and innocent teenage girl (Allison Louise Downe) is blackmailed into modeling in the nude for a photographer who is in league with a teenage gang whose boss illegally sells photos of teenage girls being abused and degraded.

First of all, let's get it out of the way: the father (Edward Mann) is possibly the worst actor who ever lived. Downe, on the other hand, does a great job, and it is interesting that she transitioned from nude victim to one of Lewis' longest collaborators.

Allmovie wrote, "Unintentionally funny and poorly photographed, this film certainly has its moments for connoisseurs of bad cinema, but others will find it tawdry and dull." This may be true, but to put it in the context of H. G. Lewis, it is actually one of his better-made movies and the film quality has held up well. Most of his films have awful prints, but not this one. Even the score seems pretty decent.

Not as bad as I'd expected

[Stevieboy666 · 5/10 · 31 July 2018]

Directed by, according to the opening credits, a one Lewis H.Gordon. No fooling any student of horror or exploitation cinema, this of course was actually the legendary Herschell Gordon Lewis, famous for his gore movies. His former wife, Allison Louise Downe, stars as a naïve young woman who earns some much needed cash posing for photographs but eventually finds herself posing nude, with the threat of blackmail hanging over her. And indeed there is some nudity here, breasts and bottoms. Which is probably the purose behind this film, rather than the moral message. Acting is bad, as to be expected with a HG Lewis. One character, Larry, is meant to be a minor but was actually 30 years old when this was filmed. One nice touch is that although filmed in black and white there is a split second red blood splat on screen. I only watched this film because it was an extra on a blu ray of another Lewis film but I'm glad that I did. Turned out to be reasonably entertaining.

Rough 1960s adult fare for the Drive-In.

[michaelRokeefe · 4/10 · 21 April 2008]

Written and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, SCUM OF THE EARTH is evocative of the early 60s "make out" flick featuring semi and full nudity. The acting is atrocious, but you don't watch this for the acting. Trying to earn money for acting lessons in Hollywood, a winsome beauty Kim Sherwood(Vickie Miles)is tricked into a dirty picture racket, when she agrees to take photos for a sleazy photographer(Thomas Sweetwood). After posing topless, Kim is blackmailed into taking more daring shots with a muscle-head named Ajax(Craig Maudslay Jr.), who loves to crack a whip. Before she can escape the whole sordid mess, there is a couple of murders that leads to a suicide. Early exploitation flick that could have been a whole lot scummier. Also in the cast: Sandra Sinclair, Toni Calvert, Mal Arnold and Lawrence J. Aberwood.

Good--for a Hershell Gordon Lewis film

[preppy-3 · 5/10 · 14 September 2003]

An innocent girl Kim (Allison Louise Downe) is forced to pose topless to pay for her college tuition.

The script is actually pretty good (except for a few clunky lines) and the direction is VERY good--for Herschell Gordon Lewis. The man made a lot of infamous blood and gore films of the 1960s--they were badly acted, directed and scripted but the plentiful gore kept you watching. But with this film something happened--he photographed in B&W and he actually wrote a fairly good script. Also there are a few competently directed sequences. Still it's really a bad film because of one thing--the acting. It's just AWFUL!!!!! It's just beyond belief how bad everybody is in the film (especially Downe). Also, despite the subject matter, there is no nudity. They come close but this would probably get by with a PG-13 rating today. So, a pretty good script and direction ruined by lousy acting. I'm sure some people are reading this and thinking I've lost my mind but seriously--HG Lewis made a fairly serious, good film!

One hilarious mistake--at one point Kim gets a letter addressed to her in Detroit MI--yet all the exterior shots show palm trees that only grow in CA!!!!

"all you kids make me sick! BECAUSE YOUR DIRTY!"

[sixtwentysix · 7/10 · 30 September 2006]

OK, so this is a "roughie" with trash and the tale of a perversion of a dainty young thing just trying to get some money for college. Aw shucks!

Implied slavery, degrading of women, pimps slapping their workers, "filthy" pinup photos sold trunk to dirty old men hand, dirty young men hand and anyone else who was buying "porn" in the age. It reminds you of how porn required so much more work than the modern age. This movie is a slow burn with some GREAT lines that you might find yourself quoting to your friends. I totally recommend getting friends together and drinking, heavily. You might find the start boring, but this has to be watched to it's blistering end. OK, it's not that blistering but it's FUNNY! A perfect picture of just how ridiculous drive in films were back in the day. Good stuff!

Decent Nudie Without the Nudity

[Michael_Elliott · 11 January 2014]

Scum of the Earth (1963)

** (out of 4)

Early sexploitation film from director Herschell Gordon Lewis about a young girl named Kim (Allison Louise Downe) who starts posing for pictures for Harmon (William Kerwin) but soon she finds out that he's actually a creep and has naughty plans for her. While the first pictures were tasteful, he eventually gets her into bikini shots and then (gasp!) nude shots. SCUM OF THE EARTH is a fairly decent sexploitation picture but people should be warned that it's an early one and there's actually not any nudity outside of a clever nipple slip. I think this film is mainly going to appeal to fans of the director who must see everything that the drive-in maverick has made. For the most part this is a fairly entertaining movie, although it feels more like those exploitation pictures from the 1930's instead of something from the swinging 60's. There are a couple nice moments scattered throughout the film but for the most part it's just another morality tale warning young girls from taking their clothes off no matter how "simple" they think the pictures are going to be. As the film says, you might start off with your clothes on but there are perverts out there who want to see you naked. The film manages to have a couple fun performances from the two leads. I thought Kerwin was actually pretty good and believable in the role of the photographer. Downe isn't "good" by any stretch of the imagination but she brings a rather sweet and naive quality to the character that makes her work. At just 73-minutes the film seems a tad bit long at times but the director never slows the picture down too much.

Leaves Much to the Imagination

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 8 January 2016]

"Sandy Sinclair" (Sandra Sinclair) is a pretty blonde who for unspecified reasons feels forced to model in the nude for a photographer named "Harmon Johnson" (William Kerwin). Likewise, Harmon also feels somewhat trapped into photographing her because another man by the name of "Ajax" (Craig Maudslay Jr.) has threatened to destroy his studio if he doesn't cooperate. However, since both Sandy and Harmon are getting paid for their efforts they reluctantly continue. Then one day Sandy is told by the overall boss, "Mr. Lang" (Lawrence J. Aberwood) that she can essentially retire provided that she finds her replacement. She then recommends an attractive teenager by the name of "Kim Sherwood" (Allison Louise Downe) who is currently in high school but needs money for college in the fall. At first she is told that the pictures will be relatively modest. However as she continues each session becomes more and more risqué to the point that she soon finds herself being blackmailed by another accomplice named "Larry" (Mal Arnold) to pose entirely nude. Fearing that her father might find out, she does as she is told which then results in even further degradation from both Larry and Ajax. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a relatively mild "exploitation" picture which leaves much to the imagination. Of course, the fact that this was produced in the early 60's probably has much to do with that. The acting was okay but in any case this was a very basic type of film which certainly won't appeal to all viewers. That said, I recommend it for mature audiences only.

More sizzle than steak

[Woodyanders · 6/10 · 3 April 2014]

Wholesome and innocent young cutie Kim Sherwood (an appealingly awkward portrayal by pretty brunette Allison Louise Downe) decides to pose for a few photos in a bathing suit in order to raise money for college. However, poor Kim soon finds herself being blackmailed into doing nude photo shoots. While the premise certainly has plenty of lurid potential, alas writer/director Herschell Gordon Lewis punks out on said potential by skimping on the nudity and, even more surprising considering his reputation for outrageous splatter cinema, holding back on the violence. That aside, this picture still presents a reasonably tawdry, if really tame and tepid expose of the scuzzy underbelly of the underground smut trade. Moreover, the colorful rogues' gallery of reprehensible low-life characters gives this flick a certain campy kick: William Kerwin as smarmy photographer Harmon Johnson, Sandra Sinclair as the cynical Sandy, Mal Arnold as loudmouth distributor Larry, Craig Maudslay Jr. as the brutish Ajax, and, best of all, Lawrence J. Aberwood as deliciously odious arch slimeball Lang, whose fabulously flamboyant "deep inside you're all dirty" speech rates as a surefire histrionic highlight. In addition, although the narrative suffers from erratic pacing, things thankfully do pick up steam and go into thrilling overdrive at the lively climax. The competent cinematography by Lewis boasts several neat fades and dissolves. Manuel Ortiz's bombastic score hits the melodramatic spot. An acceptable enough diversion.

Scum of the Earth

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 20 May 2009]

Herschell Gordon Lewis' treatment on the sleazy business of female exploitation. HGL centers his film on a secret lucratively successful underground business of selling nude photographs to "the kids" and how those involved convince young women(..teenagers)to pose for much needed income(..such as going to college). Those involved include a weary photographer, Harmon JOhnson(William Kerwin), his oft-used(..and equally tired) model, Sandy(Sandra Sinclair), and their vicious employer, Lang(Lawrence J Aberwood). Even worse than these people are Lang's depraved, obscene, bullying cohorts, Larry(Mal Arnold;recognizable for his deranged psycho in BLOOD FEAST than his basic scumbag "minor" in this film)& Ajax(Craig Maudslay Jr) used to intimidate the girls when they aren't lusting for their flesh. The central virginal innocent "corrupted" in SCUM OF THE EARTH is tender-voiced, doe-eyed Kim(Allison Louise Downe), needing money for college tuition, who is led into the ugly business delicately(..and, more importantly, manipulatively)by Sandy..in doing so Sandy will be granted by Lang a ticket out of the racket. Harmon then gains her trust by shooting leg and bikini advertisements soon properly goading Kim into a nude shoot where Larry takes snap shots to blackmail her with.

More "pro-female" than you often would later see in Lewis' gore films where women were butchered in horrific ways(..particularly his "blood trilogy"), this film takes a candid swipe at slobbery males and their often hideous disregard for women. No doubt, this is a very tame presentation of a very sordid state of affairs, but HGL equips his film with some loathsome slime, especially Lang whose memorable tirade towards sweet Kim, Aberwood ably delivers it to the hilt and beyond(..I think the way HGL shoots his sweaty, angered face and furious foul mouth, up close, add to the dynamics of the scene). There's some pretty unpleasant subject matter(..violent attacks on the women by Ajax)suggested rather than shown..this will probably fuel the anger of "roughie purists", but I don't think HGL is the kind of director who yearns to exploit the nakedness and harsh sexual brutality of women, although his camera does leeringly shoot up the legs of Allison Louise Downe and Sandra Sinclair. The film seems to be directed with a serious intent which adds to it's appeal, I think, and for those who get a good laugh at "educational treatises on questionable human practices"(..such as MARIJUANA), SCUM OF THE EARTH might be of some entertainment value. As expected, HGL's camera work is often poor and the pace can lag sluggishly, not to mention SCUM OF THE EARTH features some of the worst acting in any of his output. Interesting enough, there's some violence(..the use of a belt to whip a victim, and a bat which ends a potential rape)that occurs off-screen..made around the same time as BLOOD FEAST, which is used as a model for the first true gore film, SCUM OF THE EARTH could serve as a precursor to his future work in that violence and unpleasantness would become a vital ingredient in HGL's resume.

All you kids make me sick...

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 1 July 2018]

"Scum of the Earth" is a thoroughly entertaining sleazy-B from one of the masters of exploitation filmmaking, Herschell Gordon Lewis (credited here as "Lewis H. Gordon"). It stars his then-wife, Allison Louise Downe, as Kim Sherwood, an innocent young woman who agrees to start posing for shady photographer Harmon Johnson (William Kerwin, a familiar face in HGL movies). Unfortunately for Kim, the pics are intended to get more and more trashy and brutal, in order to make them sell. When she tries to back out, she's harangued by smut peddler Mr. Lang (Lawrence J. Aberwood), and agrees to some nude shots in the hopes that she will soon be free and clear.

HGL considered this a "transitional" picture in his filmmaking career, as it was his last feature to be shot in black & white, and it's credited with starting a new sub genre of exploitation known as the "roughie": a low budget film that would combine sex and violence in a gritty manner.

While some viewers may feel that "Scum of the Earth" doesn't quite go far enough, it's still zippy and trashy enough to hum along nicely. It does feature an appropriate amount of nudity, and if people are still feeling squeamish regarding the story's treatment of women, much of its nastier stuff is left to the imagination rather than explicitly played out on screen. It's an entertaining, amusing tale, scripted by Lewis himself, and does feature some genuinely scummy characters like Lang, under age cretin Larry (Mal Arnold, the villain in "Blood Feast") and especially the sadistic monster Ajax (Craig Maudslay Jr.).

The performances range from perfectly acceptable (Kerwin, Downe, Arnold, Maudslay, Aberwood, Sandra Sinclair as the weary Sandy) to completely amateurish (Edward Mann, playing Kims' dad, is just reciting lines instead of actually giving a performance). The show is completely stolen by Aberwood, whose brief rant at Kim is the unqualified highlight of the tale. Familiar to anybody who's seen the promo sequence on all Something Weird DVD's, it includes such choice lines as "You're damaged merchandise, and this is a fire sale!".

Overall, a worthy viewing for people eager to delve into HGL's filmography.

Eight out of 10.

Where have you gone, Lawrence J Aberwood?

[amosduncan_2000 · 7/10 · 19 May 2018]

If anything of "SOTE" is to survive, it is the monolouge and direction of Lawrence J Aberwood's speech as Lang, where he dresses down a young model and the fury of the earth's mysogony pours fourth from his repulsive gob, as Lewis cuts closer and closer into this strange piehole of hell. I think it's probably the best sequence Lewis ever directed. If it appeared in a less rediculous film it might be more recalled, but I guess "Blood Feast" stole it's thunder. I like that when Lang knows the jig is up, he is pretty philosophical about ditching his business. I mean, how much money can you make selling cheap cheesecake in the High School underground? Aberwood's excellent work is matched by William Kerwin, who is quite believeable as the morally conflicted photographer. The rest of the cast stubbles along. As this may have been the first "roughie", there is only one rough scene and it's not that rough.

I was looking for another film called SOTE, but accidently ordered this one which I had seen years ago. The "You're dirty!" speech makes it more than worth seeing again.

Ridiculous, made for the drive-in, nonsense, though representative of the '60s B-movies atmosphere. Definitely a must see in order to understand what a bad movie is all about (although the 71 minutes will s

[Emmanuel-12 · 1/10 · 24 June 1999]

Ridiculous, made for the drive-in, nonsense, though representative of the '60s B-movies atmosphere. Definitely a must see in order to understand what a bad movie is all about (although the 71 minutes will seem like forever). If the nude photo sessions were really nude, only then could the interest of the film rise... Instead, we have a PG rated movie trying to be daring and shocking, by showing the legs of its untalented starlet. Surely, a cult movie for our time, but not because of its quality. The only reason for "Scum of the Earth" to remain in our memory is the lesson it offers to the film makers as to what they should NOT do.

SLOW-MOVING BUT IMPROVES IN 2ND HALF!

[shepardjessica · 4/10 · 16 September 2004]

This early "roughie" directed H.G. Lewis is average, but has some interesting dialogue. The main actress is SO TERRIBLE she actually seems to be this naive girl! Otherwise, well-cast and shot. A 4 out of 10. A great final shot! It's a bit long but the second half tension improves the conglomerate of bad taste. A definite morality tale. Herman Hesse would be tickled!

This must have been fascinating to see on it's release in 1963. The photographer with the strange-colored hair seems pretty realistic and I can't imagine where they found the lead girl. It's almost as if she was coached to be the complete amateur with bad timing and unbelievable pauses between lines of dialogue, but somehow she makes it work. Worth seeing.

"You're dirty"!

[PaulyC · 6/10 · 27 July 2007]

Ah, yes, a roughie from master of gore, Herschell Gordan Lewis. I thought the acting of this film was actually fairly decent for a film like this. A naive and innocent teenage girl slowly gets blackmailed by a photographer to do photo shoots in the nude. Yes, there is some bad acting from a few people but the two leads do a decent job. One actor who doesn't come off well is the scummy boss who sells pictures of naked women. However, he is so bad that he's actually pretty memorable with his campy dialog. The way the scene is shot makes it seem like it's a really important scene which makes it even more amusing. I did, however expect this film to get more down and dirty with it's subject matter. Lewis has pushed boundaries with his gore films and should have tried to do the same here. It's not a terrible film but it does feel like the director pulled a few punches.

Roughie

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 3 January 2022]

The first roughie and the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis and producer David F. Friedman, Scum of the Earth! Tells the story of Kim Sherwood (Vickie Miles, AKA Allison Louise Downe, who was also in several other Lewis movies like She-Devils on Wheels), a college girl She-Devilshe wrong way and ends up trying to pay her tuition with glamour photos. But you know how the road to hell goes. It ends up going deeper and deeper, with Kim getting blackmailed into doing more and more explicit photos and dealing with sexualized violence, which is pretty insane for 1963.

Shot in six days and filmed in the same Miami locations that Blood Feast stained, it was made in black and white so that it would look filthy, like some kind of smoker film that would start turning on some old cigar smoking men before turning on them and shocking them with its willingness to make its sex violent. There's also the matter of Sandy, another older girl, and her willingness to put the young Kim through all this so that she herself can escape.

Lewis - and Friedman - were the kings of talking you into the theater. They blessed this movie with some of the best taglines ever, like "Hell is their only address and they offer you a cheap substitute for fulfillment ... in exchange for your soul!" and "Depraved. Demented. Loathsome. Nameless. Shameless. These are the Scum of the Earth!"

Lewis also knew how to write some dialogue, with stuff like "All you kids make me sick! You act like little Miss Muffet and down inside you're dirty, do you hear me? Dirty! You're greedy and self-centered and think you can get away with anything. You're no better than the girl who sells herself to a man, you're worse because you're a hypocrite. And now little Miss Muffet is in trouble and she's all outraged virtue. Well you listen and you listen well, you're damaged merchandise and this is a fire sale."

This was beyond hot stuff in the early 60s. Now you can stream it into your home. Times have changed.

'Scum of The Earth' still maintains a strange fascination outside of it merely being a crusty celluloid museum piece.

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 10 March 2021]

While this was the, as yet, uncrowned Godfather of Gore's final film shot in B/W it was later said to have been one of the first 'Roughies' and proved so financially successful that many similarly deranged films would muckily follow in its wonderfully mucky footsteps! While probably a tad naive and quaint when seen today, 'Scum of The Earth' nonetheless maintains a strange fascination outside of it merely being a crusty ol' museum piece of celluloid history. Fans of fearless filmmaker, H. G Lewis will be only too aware of the inordinately likable, more than robust character actor, Bill Kerwin's place in the triumphantly bloody pantheon of proto-splatter history by his memorable performance in the iconic cannibal opus 'Blood Feast' (1967), so it is doubly thrilling to see future Ishtar idolator, Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold) in his earlier guise as, Larry, the blithely abusive lackey to odious Lang (Lawrence J. Aberwood), the porcine head of this sordid, photographically reprehensible flesh-pot factory.

Ostensibly a cheaply made, moderately lurid morality tale, or to be pedantic, an 'immorality tale', this grubby-fingered monochrome 'expose' of crass female exploitation highlights the desperate plight of a guileless,Sherilyn Fenn lookie-likie, Kim Sherwood (Louise Downe) as she is crudely coerced into the unwilling role of 'glamour model' by arch manipulator, serial groomer of young women, Harmon Johnson (William Kerwin), erstwhile photographer, and full-time Heel! The grimily unsophisticated narrative very rapidly plunges ever deeper into the darkling mire of smut, since the fourth abject member of these insidious flesh wranglers is the vicious, over-muscled thug, Ajax (Craig Maudsley Jr.) who takes enormous pleasure in psychologically and physically assaulting these poor women into tearful submission in order to momentarily sate his openly sadistic lusts, perhaps, the estimable Mr. Lewis might have had some additionally powerful effects on future creators of extreme Japanese Pinku as well as single-handedly inventing the splatter movie genre! 'Scum of the Earth' simmers stagnantly to a marvellously melodramatic, all hellz' a poppin' climax, being tritely bookended with a pleasingly earnest voice-over from the mercurial mondo mastermind himself!

Appearing somewhat rudimentary in style and content, 'Scum of The Earth' is most certainly not without dramatic interest, since one can't help but readily sympathize with our ingenious protagonist's increasingly desperate plight, and there's an amusingly broad, almost pantomime-esque quality to her abusers nastiness! These sleazy smut-rakers and their outrageous machinations remain consistently fun to watch, perhaps a few years earlier these dastardly sinister archetypes of cartoonish despotism would have no less callously tied shrieking damsels to the train tracks whilst repeatedly swirling oily moustaches with hubristic aplomb!

Initially released on VHS by psychotronic curators 'Something Weird Video' many loons ago, it is certainly no small joy to view this formative example of H. G Lewis's trope-inventing filmmaking in much improved HD quality, perhaps not one of the more essential works from his inimitable cannon of kaleidoscopic, crimson-soaked lunacy, and while not the best place to begin investigating H. G Lewis's exhilaratingly orgiastic oeuvre but undoubtedly an important, hugely influential trashy B-Picture in its own right. Without belabouring the point, one can plainly see how utterly essential the charismatic, Bill Kerwin's myriad acting contributions have been to the continued relevance of H. G Lewis's extraordinary, convention-baiting, sin-suppurating, epoch-defining, heroically hyperbolic, celluloid freight train of midnight movie madness!